41 dead after fire breaks out at overcrowded Indonesian prison

41 inmates died while eight were badly injured and 72 sustained minor injuries after a fire broke out in a prison in Indonesia. Firefighters were called to the scene after a blaze emerged in a cell block at Tangerang Penitentiary in Jakarta, which block housed inmates imprisoned due to drug charges.

The thick smoke which clouded the sky is reported to be due to a short circuit, Jakarta police chief Fadil Imran revealed in a press conference. Prisons in Indonesia are notorious for being overcrowded and having unsanitary conditions, which house around 270,000 inmates and often suffer from jailbreaks.

Back in 2019, 30 people including a number of children were killed after a matchstick factory work dropped a lighter in a matchstick factor in North Sumatra.

#MaltaDaily